Rise in food allergies results in gluten-free options Local farms offer
any exposure to gluten can cause an autoimmune reaction in the body. The
immune system sees the gluten as a foreign object and attacks it.
Taylor’s daughter has multiple food allergies, including an allergy to
he was singing and almost dancing as she drove to the grocery store, cel- wheat, and Taylor has worked around her need for allergy-safe foods.
“In the five years we have been doing this, it has gotten so much easier,”
ebrating the new Whole Foods health food store opening in Greenville,
S.C. No more surfing the Internet for expensive and nasty tasting foods, Taylor said. “You get a choice now; you don’t feel so stuck. When I first started, I had to order online; you couldn’t just go to the grocery
thought Jennifer Taylor, West’s early childhood and developstore and get allergy-friendly foods.”
ment teacher.
We’re trying
A growing number of grocery stores, including Ingles,
She was beyond excited. Now taking care of her 5-yearhave
whole aisles dedicated to allergen-friendly foods.
old daughter, Caroline, would be much easier. Caroline is
to bring the
There are many theories regarding the sudden rise in
one of a growing number of children and young adults dealcommunity
gluten, nut and dairy sensitivities. The “hygiene hypothing with food allergies and sensitivities.
esis” holds that children are growing up in environments
In fact, the number of people with food allergies
together. This
that are too clean, not giving their immune systems the
went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to www.
gives people an
chance to fight off allergy-causing pathogens.
cnnheath.com.
“We are too clean,” biology teacher Alexsandra Lawson
Hypersensitivities to gluten are becoming common in
outlet to be a part
said. “We need to eat and play in dirt. When we don’t chala country that loves its pasta and bread. Gluten is a proof something
lenge our immune system, it overreacts; that’s what an altein that is found in most grains, like wheat, rye and barley.
lergy is.”
There are many different levels of gluten sensitivities. Some
better.
Another theory involves the way food is stored in
people lack the enzymes necessary to digest certain proCharles Keefer
America. In store houses, foods like grains and nuts sit and
teins containing gluten, causing a gluten intolerance.
owner of Harvest-Thyme
get moldy before being shipped off and sold.
Intolerance to gluten is not technically an allergy; inFood Co-op
Many restaurants now have allergy-friendly menus.
stead gluten causes a physical irritation in a person’s digesAcropolis on Airport Road recently started serving a glutentive system. The undigested grains inflame the microvilli, a
membrane that increases cell size. If the microvilli are damaged it becomes free pizza; Olive Garden has gluten free pasta options.
“Traveling is tough; snacks are tough. We always say, ‘If only we could
much harder for the small intestine to absorb nutrients, resulting in anemia,
get rid of wheat.’ It’s in everything,” Taylor said. “If you think about fast food,
nausea and even depression.
With “celiac disease,” a much more serious form of gluten intolerance, there is no fast food that is gluten-free.”

alking down the brightly lit aisle, a
customer inspects the options in
the organic vegetable section of her
neighborhood store. Upon finding the vegetable she was looking for, she looks up to check
the price.
The look on her face shifts from contentment to shock, and for good reason. The sign
reads $2.49/lb., 29 cents more than last week’s
price. Just down the aisle, the non-organic version is $1.59, nearly a dollar less
Charles Keefer, co-owner of N.C. HarvestThyme Food Co-op with wife Tarah Singh, sees
community gardens as a solution to counteract
the increasingly high prices of food (contributed to by escalating oil prices).
“What are we going to do when gas gets to
$4 or $5 a gallon? We have to go more local to
afford food as prices get higher,” Keefer said.
“We can water our gardens, but it will become
increasingly difficult for farmers to water their
huge fields.”
Keefer has worked with gardens since he
was a child. Previously, he initiated a food coop in Raleigh and transformed several plots
of land into Harvest-Thyme and a vegetarian
restaurant.
“We’ve been doing community gardening
for years and just moved back here last year. We
were part of the Highland Lake Inn Gardens; I
took over last year, and we’ve started to develop at least two (gardening plots),” Keefer said.

“We’ve had at least five spaces offered to us, but
if your area is too spread out, you can’t do it well.
Gardening takes a lot of work; it requires you to
be attentive.”
Keefer owns several plots of land that members grow on in Clear Creek, Laurel Park and
Sugarloaf Mountain. He also offers lots to apartment owners lacking growing space. Members
are required to pay a monthly fee to participate
in Harvest-Thyme.
“Our co-op is a group of people; we’ve got 35
people right now that all go in together. We’ve got
a set fee, which is $50 a month, and we distribute
the produce out,” Keefer said. “We gather all the
crops and put together a mixed box; you get lots
of food. We’ve really had to quell the amounts
of food we put in our boxes because there is so
much.”
According to Keefer, co-ops benefit the community because their prices differ significantly
from those in local grocery stores.
“You pay the retail price of the store who’s
paying for their electrical bills and everything
else. Instead, we are dealing with the farmer, so
our prices are less than what they would be from
a grocer,” Keefer said. “Buying from the farmer is
a lot cheaper, and you get more food.”
Though Keefer continues to travel back
and forth to his farm in Raleigh, he considers
Harvest-Thyme a change of direction from previous trades.
“Raleigh was very different from here. This
is part of our attempt to change direction about
what we’re doing, from just being craftsmen —
Tarah’s a local artist — to doing more than just

that because food is one of our basic things,”
Keefer said. “You have to have food to survive;
it’s a basic, primal issue. Every time I put together boxes and work with our customers, I
feel great; it’s something totally different.”
Like Keefer, sophomore Ally Pfotzer has
grown up around gardening and considers the
task worthwhile.
“My mother has a huge garden, and we
eat from it almost the entire summer; it’s a
lot of food. She grows a variety of fruits and
vegetables, and I help out, especially during
the summer,” Pfotzer said. “Gardening is very
rewarding. It’s such a tangible thing; a grade at
school isn’t as tangible as a tomato or something you grew.”
Pfotzer also considers organic food a wise
substitute for processed foods and often buys
specifics from Hendersonville Co-op and Earth
Fare. According to Pfotzer, chemicals and additives in processed foods can negatively affect
the way she feels.
“My mom and I have gluten intolerance,
so we have to buy gluten-free and organic
foods. You feel better because there aren’t
chemicals in your food,” Pfotzer said. “If I slip
up and eat something that’s been processed, I
feel sluggish or get a headache.”
Besides health benefits, Keefer also considers his organic co-op to be a community
opportunity. “It’s not just about growing food;
it’s about people — people who work together
at the garden start to become friends and understand each other; that’s a whole other part
of what this is really about,” he said.

fresh alternatives
Katie Miller
Feature Writer

V

endors from across the area assembled on
Saturday for the weekly farmers’ market in
Mills River. The market, open from 8 a.m. to
noon every Saturday, provides a place for 16 different vendors to sell their produce.
“The reasons for having the farmers’ market
was that there was a growing demand from area
residents for fresh, local food,” Jim Reed, leader
of the market’s board said. “There was also a food
scarcity in meats and milk. The customers tend
to claim that the food tastes better than imported
food.”
Local farmers’ markets allow consumers to
interact with the growers.
“Locally grown food provides the consumer
with the ability of knowing where their food is
coming from. A lot of the farmers either are at the
markets that they sell at, or someone who works
on the farm is there to sell the products,” Dawn
Creasman of Creasman Farms said. “Some area
farms actually allow you to come and pick or visit
their roadside stands to buy products. It allows
the consumer to talk to the people who actually
grow the products. It also helps stimulate the local
economy if you buy local; then the money stays in
our community.”
An experiment conducted by www.foodbuzz.
com comparing store-bought eggs to fresh eggs
clearly showed that the fresh farm eggs were more
appealing in color, texture and shell strength, although little difference in the taste of the eggs was
reported.
North Carolina’s main crops are soybeans,
corn, peanuts, wheat and a variety of fruits and
vegetables.
“The establishment of CSAs (community
supported agriculture) and new small farmers’
markets have helped to provide the community
with safe, fresh products to feed their families as
well as help boost our local economy,” Creasman
said.
Freshman Gavin McWhirter’s family grows
food that is sold at Smiley’s Flea Market and
Antique Mall on Asheville Highway in Fletcher.
“I have sold green beans, tomatoes and a lot
of other vegetables,” WcWhirter said. “We have
sold everything but eggplant. We didn’t sell eggplant because they went bad in about a week.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 3,000 Americans die and 48 million become sick each year from salmonella and
other forms of food poisoning.
“When you are shopping in the grocery
store, you need to look at where your food is
coming from. The United States has all kinds of
rules and regulations that growers and processors
must follow to ensure food safety,” Creasman said.
“Not all countries from where our food is imported have to follow the same standards.”
Events such as Hendersonville’s Apple Festival
honor the area’s homegrown foods. This event,
featured annually each Labor Day weekend, gives
local farmers the chance to sell their apples and
promote locally grown food.